If it works, it’s a Fluke!
Anyone who has ever worked on anything electrical will tell you, you need a meter. And people who do it for a living will often have scads of them.
I myself have a pile you could climb to the roof on. Old Heathkit VTVM’s. Black bakelite Simpsons in ratty leather cases. Triplett desktops and even the occasional signal analyser or scope. Old Radio Shaft scopemeters, beat up shirt pocket meters, calculator sized portables.
My Goto meter is a Fluke 114. It doesn’t have a frequency counter or any of the other fancy features, but it does have a 600 volt range, very important in my line of work, it’s true RMS, which means it isn’t fooled by ghost voltages, and it’s got BIG NUMBERS in a BACKLIT DISPLAY.
Not that my eyes need the extra help or anything.
The 114 is a good solid meter that will deal with any home/shop troubleshooting. It isn’t a precision bench meter and it’s not meant to be. It’s got an overmolded case that protects it from most stupid shit you can do to it, and it has a three year warranty (Which, incidentally, does not protect you from theft).
If you need a meter, and there’s room in your life for only one, this is probably a good choice. I just stumbed across the receipt for mine and I’m afraid to tell you how old it is. And it’s been in the bottom of a full tank of oil, it’s been dropped out a second story window, it’s been kicked across an asphalt driveway more than once, and it’s been stepped on by a big fat bastard. (me).
By their tools shall ye know them, and this is an impressive tool.
11 comments Og | Uncategorized
And it’s available at Amazon.
M
I used the same Fluke for over 18 years and it was not new when I got it.
Quality tells.
How do you feel about the cheap meters in the $10 range? I sometimes find myself called on to do some work when i am away from my meters at home and it is just too handy to pick up another dirt cheap one.
Fluke 87B – because when I show up, they’re already done the easy stuff and I’m liable to need the extra features.
MC
The DMM, don’t leave home without it.
No matter how smart or experienced you are, trying to fix shit without one isn’t troubleshooting… it’s just fancy guessing.
Hale: I buy those harbor Freight DMM’s by the handful, and always have one at my desk, at my desk at home, in my truck, etc. They’re rally handy, and if I loan one to someone and it gets away, I’m not bothered by it.
What Og said. The $5 HF meters aren’t exactly reference-accurate, or remotely hardy creatures.
But they work well enough for “is this line current or what?” or “is my battery charged/is this alternator working?” or “is this fuse actualyl blown?” work
And being cheaper than lunch makes up for a lot. (Got destroyed by humidity in my car’s wet trunk? Who cares, buy a replacement.)
I catch them on sale, they had them at the local HFT once for a buck apeice. I bought ten.
Simpsons and Flukes were our mainstays in the Navy, you just can’t go wrong with either … though I still refuse to pay for my flukes contraceptives.
We used Flukes exclusively on the flightline in Herr Clintoon’s Luftwaffe back in the ’90’s, if I recall correctly. Encased in yellow plastic, capable of surviving a fall from the top of a C-5 T-tail? Sounds like it.
65 & 1/2 feet, providing the landing gear struts contained proper hydraulic pressure, I believe it was.
Still got my first(and only) Tripplett analog VOM.